Watched From Afar
by MarauderFan4ever
Summary: Eldarion is the crown Prince of Gondor and Elena is a struggling servant who is a nobody in everybody's eyes. Except for his, that is.


And here's the next fic that has come out of my head. I hope you all enjoy it. There are more notes at the bottom. Oh, and I don't own 'Break Away' by Kelly Clarkson.

Chapter 1: Elena and Eldarion

_To this very day I can remember the first time I saw her. She was two years younger than me, (only seventeen) but was coming closer and closer to her coming of age. I, of course, was nineteen and spent most of my days in the library memorizing the histories of Middle Earth, as was expected of me, being the Prince of Gondor. She had only been following her orders-to fetch me some tea. I had not asked her to, my mother had. Why, I never found out. But then again, my mother could see things many others could not._

Eldarion sighed for what seemed like the millionth time. All of this information was making his head hurt. Not that it mattered to anyone anyway. But all he wanted was a few days to himself. Was that too much to ask? Apparently, it was.

It was close to lunchtime, and Eldarion could not wait until someone came to get him and save him from the horrors his tutors called books.

There was a knock on the door so soft that Eldarion could barely hear it.

"Come in." he called.

A young girl of about seventeen walked in carrying a tray. She curtsied gracefully. "Excuse me Your Highness, but the Queen asked me if I would bring you some tea."

Eldarion raised his eyebrows; there was a large amount of food on the tray also.

"And I thought that since it was close to lunch you would want something to eat." She added quickly, setting the table

He smiled gratefully, although inside he was groaning in pain. He would never escape now.

"Thank you..?"

"Elena." She provided.

"Ah, Elena. Are you new?" He asked. "I don't believe I have ever seen you before." Eldarion made it a goal to know everyone who worked at the palace, and there were a lot of people who worked at the palace.

"No, I've worked here for a while. I...uh, just...um, kind of kept to the shadows, if you know what I mean."

He laughed and she even smiled nervously.

"Well, I hate to ruin the moment, but I have to get back to my reading."

"Oh! Of course! I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to keep you." She stuttered, nearly running out of the room.

"Wait!" He called, grabbing her arm. It was clear that she was not comfortable around him. In fact, she was downright scared of him. "You've done nothing wrong, Elena."

"Oh, I know!" she cried. "I just don't want to distract you."

He released his hold on her. "Alright then. I just wanted to make sure you knew."

He turned to glance at the food that sat on the table behind them. "Thanks again for the-"

But she was gone.

Eldarion, feeling only slightly bewildered, stuck his head outside the door only to find that the hallway was empty, save for his mother.

"Is something wrong, my son?" Arwen asked him in her usual calming tone. "And is there a reason you are hanging partly in the hallway?"

"Did you just see a young maiden hurrying down the hallway?"

"Elena?" Arwen replied, following Eldarion into the library.

"Yes. She was just in here, giving me some food. We talked for a few minutes and I said I had to get back to reading and then she was all nervous and ran out."

"Well," Arwen said, trying to think of how to best explain this to him. "Elena is an especially nervous girl, more so than most. And it only gets worse around you, me, or your father."

"Why?"

Arwen smiled softly. Her son was so innocent and still thought like a child sometimes. He still did not fully understand why people were often so nervous around him. When he was a child, he had often asked his father why people kept bowing to him while he was shorter than everyone else. (That had been a long conversation that had somehow ended up talking about where babies come from, but anyway) Eldarion tried to get people to be as relaxed as possible around him and Aragorn and Arwen had just accepted it as a part of his character. There were some Lords and Ladies however, that thought that it was beneath Eldarion to act as he did. But it never bothered him, and probably never would.

"Because of who you are, people hold you in very high respects. " Arwen chose her words carefully. "And even if you ask some of them to be on more friendlier terms with you, they may not wish to. They may not think it is right."

"Oh." Eldarion pouted in a pure child-like manner. "I don't really like that."

Arwen laughed. No, her eldest would never completely grow up. "I'm sure you'll get used to it." she said. "Come," she looped her arm through his, as if he was escorting her,"I think we had better get to lunch before our family wonders where we have gone."

It was Eldarion's turn to laugh, and he walked out with his mother, the tea forgotten.

* * *

Elena ran out of the Library, terrified that he would come after her again and make sure she 'understood'. She did understand that she had done nothing wrong, at least by him. But if the Head Servant, Olga found out that she had not be acting "properly" when around the Prince, then Elena was a dead woman. So she had gotten out of there as quick as she could. And now he probably thought that she was an idiot. Perfect.

She flew into the kitchens, and quickly took her place next to her best friend, Erika, rolling the dough for all the bread that came out of the palace ovens.

"Where were you?" Erika asked. "You're late."

"The Queen asked me take some tea to Prince Eldarion. I was only doing as she asked." Elena muttered.

"Is that right?" A voice said from behind them.

Elena froze. It was Olga.

"Yes." She turned slowly to face her. It was a known fact that Olga found as many ridiculous reasons as she could to pick on Elena. No one knew exactly why she did, but it was wise not to get in the middle. So as of right now everyone went about their business, but listened carefully to what Olga was saying.

"And did you address his Highness as is proper?" She asked.

"Yes." Elena said timidly.

"Did you babble at all as you normally do?"

"Yes- I mean no!" She said quickly.

"Good." Olga looked critically around the room. She turned to Elena again "And put more energy into in your rolling, Elena." She snapped. "You should know that by now."

"Yes ma'am" Elena sighed as soon as Olga left.

"Why do you let her push you around like that?" Erika asked, as everyone in the kitchen _really_ went back to what they were doing.

"It's not like I have a choice." Elena said. "Besides, it's better to just listen to her then argue."

Erika shook her head. Elena was too nervous and didn't have enough confidence in herself to even want to stand up for herself. Erika smiled mischeviously.

"So did you really babble?"

Elena turned bright red and giggled. "Kind of."

Another woman near them laughed. "Same old Elena. Even old Olga can't get your spirits down for to long."

"Better watch out guys," Erika joked, "Or else our dreamer over here will start singing."

Elena laughed. Everyone really did love Elena as they would a younger sister. She was one of the nicest and sweetest people you would ever meet. She also had a reputation for being what everyone called a 'dreamer'. Elena was one of those small people in the world who always hoped that she would get something better in life. Not that she didn't like her life; she just wanted something more than just serving in the palace. And she was slowly getting there.

You see, Elena wanted to be a Healer. But with her father only beingthe owner of an inn, he didn't have enough money to send her to one of those fancy Healer schools. So they were able to work out a deal with the school and the palace that in exchange for her services in the palace, she would attend the school three times a week at night. It was an odd deal, but the way Elena saw it, it helped her get out of her small servant life.

She was also known for her singing...at the most unusual times. She would just start singing whenever she felt like it. And she was good at it. Very good at it.

She grinned at them all. She was much more comfortable around them than anyone else. These people where her friends, and damn close to her family. And they all fully supported her going to Healing school.

And just to prove them all right, she grabbed a nearby stirring spoon and began to sing.

_Buildings with a hundred floors_

_Swinging round revolving doors_

_Maybe I don't know where they'll take me_

She began to sway and Erika laughed and moved with her.

_But gotta keep movin' on movin' on_

_Fly away break away_

She skipped around and everyone around her laughed and sung along, though you could hear Elena's voice the best.

_I'll spread my wings_

_And I'll learn how to fly_

_Though it's not easy_

_To tell you goodbye_

_I gotta take a risk, take a chance make a change_

_And break away_

What all of the servants having fun inside didn't know was that their very own Prince Eldarion was outside the door (for a reason not even he knew) listening to this girl sing and dance around. He smiled as he stared at her.

_Out of the darkness and into the sun_

_But I won't forget the place I come from_

_I gotta take a risk, take a chance make a change_

_And break away_

_Breakaway_

Everyone clapped and then went back to what they were doing, chattering happily.

Eldarion resisted the urge to go in there and talk to the girl. If he did, she would only get all flustered again, knowing that he had seen her. And Eldarion did not want to ruin the mood. So he would just have to stay here. And watch her from afar.

* * *

Note- So what do you think? I think that Eldarion may have acted a little childish but one, its part of his character, and two, he hasn't really seen a whole lot of the "real world" if you know what I mean so there you go.

And yes, his name is really Eldarion. I looked in the Appendices of Return of the King. You can find it in Appendix A on page 1037 in which Aragorn says,

'"Not before my time," he answered. "For if I will no go now, then I must soon go perforce. And Eldarion, our son is a man full-ripe for kingship."

So there you go. But it also says somewhere that Aragorn and Arwen also had several daughters, so if anyone knows anything about them, and could tell me, that would be lovely, thanks.


End file.
